


gone up in feathers

by besully (Briar_Elwood)



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Blow Jobs, Case Fic, F/F, F/M, Gunfight at the OK Corral, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Massage, Multi, New Demon, Rating May Change, Serious Injuries, Threesome, motorcycle accident
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-11-15 21:40:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11239791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Briar_Elwood/pseuds/besully
Summary: A few years after season two, Dolls, Wynonna, and Doc are all living together at the homestead. Waverly's moved in with Nicole. Wynonna's still working on ending the Earp Curse, but things are good. Bobo, Willa, and even Black Badge are a distant memory.Then strange and unexplainable accidents start happening all around town. It seems like Doc knows something about what's going on, but he won't say anything to his lovers. Wynonna and Dolls are forced to wonder... what the hell is going on, and how does it have to do with Doc?Canon compliant up until 2.05 because, well, obviously. For now, I guess.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Tags and characters will be added as needed. Rating may change.

Wynonna can feel Doc’s appreciative gaze resting on her as she walks Uncle Curtis’s bike out from the barn for the first ride of the spring. She enjoys the attention the entire circle around the homestead, Doc leaning against a post on the porch, casually smoking a cigarillo. She kicks up some good dirt and goes just as fast as her heart pleases, a little disappointed Dolls was holed up at the station. It’d’ve been nice to have both boyfriends here for the first ride of the year, but then again, Wynonna has an idea and Dolls would shut it down for sure.

“Hey, Doc,” she calls, grinning up at him as she climbs off the bike and knocks the kickstand down. “Wanna learn to ride?”

Doc pushes off from the post and eyes the bike warily.

“I can barely drive a car,” he points out.

“Motorcycle’s a completely different animal,” Wynonna says, patting the seat. “C’mon. Let’s get you in the saddle again.”

That seems to get Doc interested and he takes one long last drag from his cigarillo before flicking it aside and striding up to her.

“All right. Where do we start?”

Wynonna cheers internally. This is gonna be awesome. “Well, first you get seated,” she says with a smirk. Doc gives her an thoroughly unamused look before climbing into the seat. Wynonna takes a moment to just appreciate the view. He looks a little uncomfortable, but that should pass after a little time. She walks him through the controls, making him repeat them to her three times before she’s satisfied.

“Comfortable?” she asks, and Doc gives her a jerky nod.

“You can reach everything comfortably? Nothing too close or too far?”

“It’s fine,” Doc says, and Wynonna could swear his voice is almost shaking. She hides her grin and presses on. She explains the gears and then has him turn the bike on. He actually jolts, mouth twisting as he looks down at the vehicle between his legs.

“It’s vibrating,” he says, a little too loudly over the sound of the bike. Wynonna can’t help the laugh.

“It does that. Why don’t you you use the clutch and just walk with it for a few feet?”

He doesn’t actually do to bad, and Wynonna tells him to try to raise his feet after only a few moments. It takes him a couple tries, the bike wobbling precariously, but he does it, the bike moving slowly forward.

“Yeah!” Wynonna crows. “That’s it! You’re a natural. Try shifting up to the first gear.”

Within a few minutes, Wynonna’s backing off and telling Doc to go ahead and have at it. He’s got the controls down, he’s got the balance down, and he’s figuring out the gears. He’s got this, and it’s gonna be so awesome. She’ll have to find a second bike so they can go riding together. And then maybe she can teach Dolls too and all three of them can run away for a day. Though, now that she was thinking about it, Dolls probably already knew how to ride a bike. Even better.

Wynonna had made sure to point Doc in a direction where he can go straight forward for days. They’d get to turning in a moment--the balance of that could be tricky for beginners. He’s steadily gaining speed, and Wynonna’s cheering him on, and seriously, he looks _good_ with his legs around a machine. They may have to take a break before the next part of the lesson to burn off some adrenaline. Maybe she wouldn’t find him a bike, and they could switch off who’s driving and who’s the passenger. Yeah, that sounded like an idea. Doc comes to a slow, unsteady stop, and looks back at her.

“How’m I doin’?” he calls. Wynonna jogs over to him, grin plastered on her face.

“You’re awesome. Let’s turn you around and try to go faster this time? You gotta feel the rush of the wind whipping past you.”

Doc grins back at her. “Now that’s a sensation I remember. There ain’t much in the world that can outdo that feelin’ of freedom.”

Wynonna turned the bike around and set him back up. “You got this?” she asks before letting him go.

“Guess we’ll be findin’ out.”

It takes him a moment to find his balance again, but then he’s off, going faster and faster, and _fuck yes_ , nothing could beat this. He’s crouched over the handles just like he’s riding a horse, and Wynonna can tell he’s resisting lifting off the seat--he’s not there yet, but he’ll get there. Wynonna almost wishes she liked horses more just for the chance to turn the tables and have Doc teach her how to ride.

When it happens, it seems to happen in slow motion before suddenly speeding back up to make up for lost time. Doc’s flying down the dirt road, perfect as any well-seasoned rider, when his hands leave the handles. He’s raising them over his head and the bike goes off balance instantly, Wynonna’s heart leaping to her throat. Down the bike and Doc both go, the bike spinning on top of one leg, both sliding for several feet. Wynonna’s running to him before he finally comes to a stop.

“Doc!” she yells, heart thudding painfully in her throat. He doesn’t answer and he doesn’t move, and there’s a brief moment where Wynonna can hear Dolls yelling at her for killing their boyfriend, but then there’s a groan, and Doc’s twisting, trying to get out from under the bike.

“Whoa, whoa, hey, hold on!” she says, pulling the bike back upright and back down to it’s other side. Doc rolls into his back, letting out a yell of pain. Wynonna hurries to his side, hands wavering as she tries to figure out where not to touch.

“You okay?”

Doc is clutching his side, the leg that had been trapped under the bike distinctly not moving in any direction. “Got trapped under a stead once. Gah,” he gasps out as his movement shifts his leg slightly. “This is almost worse.”

“Right. Don’t move,” Wynonna commands. “I’ll get the truck and we’ll get you to the hospital.”

* * *

Dolls meets Wynonna at the hospital after Doc is taken away by the nurse. Wynonna can’t help but thank her lucky stars they already know taking Doc to the hospital is safe--they won’t find anything unusual in his blood or anything that makes it obvious he’s immortal--though, to be honest, that whole debacle she could’ve done without. Made things easier now, though. Dolls looks somewhere between outraged and bewildered as he storms up to her. He rips her a new one, giving her a rant full of “what were you thinking”s and “can’t leave you two alone for five minutes”s and “you’re lucky you didn’t kill him”s. All of which Wynonna knew already--she doesn’t want to imagine what the damage would’ve been on a paved road. His clothes and skin would’ve been torn up and, while he wouldn’t’ve gotten pinned under the bike, it would’ve looked a whole lot scarier.

“A concussion, a whole host of scrapes and contusions, a few pulled muscles, and a torn ligament in his left knee,” Dolls is saying. “We're now down a deputy for at _least_ a month, Earp. What were you _thinking_?”

Wynonna glares at him. “I was _thinking_ it’d be fun. I was _thinking_ he sucks at driving so maybe he’d do better on a bike. I was _thinking_ he was doing great and then suddenly he let go of the handles and it all went to shit!”

“What do you mean ‘he let go of the handles’?” Dolls asks, switching from enraged to scrutinizing.

“He let go of the handles!” Wynonna repeats irritably. “One moment he was doing awesome, a real natural actually, then he let go of the handles for some damn reason and that was it!”

“Why would he let go?” Dolls asks. “Doc’s not that stupid.”

“I’m aware,” Wynonna says, “he’s not that stupid. Yeah. I know.”

The doctor walks out into the hallway at that point, luckily, stopping things from escalating. The doctor looks between them oddly for a moment before addressing Dolls.

“You may see him.”

Wynonna gives the doctor a glare as he walks away. Sure, Dolls was the boss, but she was the one who brought Doc in. Dick.

She follows Dolls inside, wincing at the sight of Doc dressed in a hospital gown, lying in a hospital bed. She’d seen it before, but it still looks all kinds of wrong. His hair’s too flat, his eyes too unfocused. There’s none of usual careless swagger to be seen, and it makes Wynonna extremely uncomfortable. He notices them a little belatedly and smiles.

“Why, hello there.”

Wynonna walks over to the foot of his bed. “Hey. How’re you feeling?”

Doc’s smile falls, and he looks contemplative for a moment. “Like a horse drug me around for a while then sat on my leg.”

Wynonna winces at the mental image and looks over to Dolls.

“What happened, Doc?” he asks.

Doc looks like a deer caught in the headlights. “Whaddya mean?” he asks haltingly. “I lost control, it was an accident.”

Dolls looks back at Wynonna with a frown before turning back to Doc. “Wynonna says you let go of the handles.”

“Did I?” Doc says, eyes too wide and innocent. “I don’t recall doing anythin’ like that.”

Wynonna stares at him. “Doc, you sure you’re doing all right?”

Doc looks pointedly down at himself before giving her a raised eyebrow. “Do I _look_ like I’m doin’ all right?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what, pray tell, did you mean?”

Wynonna looks at Dolls desperately, hoping he’ll have some idea of how to better handle this. It doesn’t make sense, and she’s starting to get actually worried. But Dolls looks just as confused and unsettled as she feels. Doc looks between the two of them irritably.

“Right. Well. I’m in dire need of some rest, so if you two don’t mind…”

He was kicking them out. Worried was starting to move into the territory of scared. Sure, he had a concussion and all, but this wasn’t like Doc. He kept secrets, sure, but ever since the three of them had moved in together, he’d opened up more. They’d settled into a happy area where Doc could keep some secrets, but he told them anything important. There was enough trust there by now.

Wynonna nods, too unnerved to have any words.

“Call us,” Dolls says instead of goodbye. He holds Wynonna’s gaze steadily and takes her hand, as they both leave Doc alone in the hospital room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doc's refusing to follow the doctor's orders, and the team has a new case.

It’s a relief when Waverly walks into Shorty’s and sits down across the table from Wynonna. Wynonna’s been sitting there all day, nursing a bottle of whiskey, keeping an eye on Doc--who’d refused to call in sick and take it easy. He was limping around, a grimace permanently fixed on his face, trying go about business as usual, and Wynonna couldn’t do a goddamn thing about it. Waverly glances over in Doc’s direction.

“How’s he doing?”

“Shitty,” Wynonna replies. “Not that he’ll admit it. He should be home resting.”

“So you’re, what?” Waverly asks. “Babysitting him? Don’t you have a job?”

“This is my assignment from Dolls,” Wynonna says, taking a sip from her glass. “Doc is acting sketchy, I’m supposed to keep an eye on him.”

“What kind of sketchy?” Waves asks. Wynonna sets her glass down on the table hard.

“He just let go of the handles, Waves. Just like that. It looked like--like he was shielding himself from something or something, but there was nothing there! He just… let go!”

“You think he’s seeing things? Like hallucinations?”

Wynonna shrugs. “I have no fucking clue. Whatever’s going on, he’s not talking.”

Waverly looks back over to Doc, who’s noticed she’s walked in. He gives her a nod, and she gives him a short wave back. Waverly turns to Wynonna.

“I’m gonna say hi. You gonna continue to hide over here?”

“Yes, thank you,” Wynonna says. “He’s already pissed off enough that I’m here.”

Waverly shakes her head but walks over to the bar anyway. Doc gives her his classic winning smile and says something in greeting to her. Wynonna watches the exchange, trying to look like she’s not watching because she can see Doc’s eyes flitting up to her every now and again. After a moment, Doc limps away and brings Waverly a cup of coffee. Waverly takes the cup with a nod and walks back over to Wynonna, sitting down.

“You’re right, he should be home resting,” she says. “That limp is bad.”

“The doctor said he should rest,” Wynonna points out. “He’s got a torn knee ligament, for chrissakes! He needs to let that heal or he’ll have a permanent limp.”

Waverly sniffs at her coffee and makes a face. “He wouldn’t let me go without getting something for me. You want some coffee?”

Wynonna starts to shake her head, but her phone rings from her jeans pocket. She pulls it out, sees Dolls’ picture on the screen, and answers.

“You calling to check in on him?”

“ _No, I’m calling because we’ve got a new case,_ ” Dolls answers, voice tight and in boss-man mode.

“Revenant?” Wynonna asks hopefully. The number of revenants left is sitting somewhere in the low thirties, and it’s gotten monumentally harder to find them anymore. It’s starting to drive her nuts.

“ _Dunno. Witness is already here at the station. I need you to sober up and get over her. Bring Waverly too._ ”

“And Doc?” Wynonna asks, looking over to where Doc’s stopped, a pained look on his face, stooped down a little to massage at his leg.

“ _Nedley’s going over there to pick him up and take him home._ ”

“Oh, he’ll love that,” Wynonna says.

“ _He’ll get over it._ ”

Wynonna hangs up, shoving the phone back in her pocket, and standing to pull her jacket back on. “New case,” she says to a very impatient looking Waverly. “Gimme that coffee, we gotta go.”

“What about Doc?” Waverly asks, handing the cup of coffee over. Wynonna takes a gulp of it, wincing at the temperature.

“Nedley’s coming to take him home.”

“Oh, Doc’s gonna love that.”

Wynonna smirks. “That’s what I said.”

* * *

Dolls and Jeremy are waiting when Wynonna and Waverly arrive at the station. There’s another man with them, short, round, and balding. He looks nervous and twitchy, his eyes bloodshot and his face splotchy, like he’s either been crying or is really drunk. Maybe both.

“Glenn Hooper,” Wynonna greets through her teeth. She’s never liked him much. Something about the accountant always rubbed her the wrong way. “How’s it going?”

Glenn looks at Dolls, like he’s not sure what to say. Dolls gestures at Wynonna. “Tell her what you told us.”

“My wife disappeared,” he blurts out, looking shocked at himself. Wynonna frowns at Dolls.

“How is missing persons ours?” she asks.

“No, I mean disappeared,” Glenn says, voice gruff and quick. “Like she actually disappeared.”

“You actually saw her disappear?” Waverly asks, looking suddenly interested. Glenn deflates a little.

“No, not really, but…”

“Start at the beginning, Mr. Hooper,” Dolls prompts calmly. Glenn looks at him and nods, taking a deep breath.

“Last night, the missus and I were… having a little fun in the bedroom,” he says, awkwardly walking around the innuendo. “I left for a moment to get some water, and I swear to you, I was gone for less than five minutes, and when I came back, she was gone.”

“You sure she didn’t just leave?” Wynonna asks bitingly. Claire Hooper wasn’t her favorite person either, but the woman sure deserved better than this ugly sack of shit.

The red splotches on Glenn’s skin get darker and wider, and he ducks his head a bit. “Me and the wife like to… roleplay sometimes. She was cuffed to the bed. I had the key on me.”

“Oh!” Wynonna says, immediately regretting the question. That was a mental image she wouldn’t be able to get rid of anytime soon. “Right. Okay. Well then.”

“Tell her the strange part, though,” Jeremy chimes in. Glenn looks at him and then looks to Dolls again. Wynonna starts to wonder about that. It’s like Glenn was looking for permission or something. Dolls nods, and Glenn continues.

“When I came back to the bedroom and she was gone, there was something else in her place.”

“What is that?” Waverly asks curiously. Glenn hesitates for a moment and then answers.

“Feathers.”

Wynonna blinks at him for a moment, then looks up to Dolls. “Feathers?”

Dolls shrugs. “Officer Haught is at the scene right now. She’s bringing back pictures and samples of the feathers.”

“So something turned Claire Hooper into a pile of feathers?” Waverly says, looking about as confused as Wynonna feels.

“You really think that?” Glenn asks, sounding panicked. “Why would someone do that?”

“Hey, calm down,” Wynonna says quickly. “Could just be she disappeared and there were feathers left in her place, right?” She looks at Dolls for confirmation, but he just shrugs.

“Could be. Hard to tell at this point.”

“Wait a minute,” Wynonna says suddenly, turning her full attention back to Glenn. “You said this happened last night. Why are you only coming to us now?”

Glenn looks cowed, glancing at Dolls again, and really, that’s getting on Wynonna’s nerves. “I was freaking out, man,” he says, nerves rising to the top, the splotchiness getting worse. “I didn’t even believe it myself at first, I thought she had to be somewhere, playing… playing a prank on me or something. But I couldn’t find her, and I didn’t know what else to do so I came here.”

“Thank you so much for your time, Mr. Hooper,” Dolls says, moving from his spot to clap Glenn hard on the shoulder. “We’ll take it from here and let you know if we find anything.”

Glenn nods jerkily, looking quickly between Dolls and Wynonna before turning tail and practically running out of the station. Dolls turns to the rest of them with a resigned sigh.

“All right. So we need to figure out what kind of feathers Mr. Hooper found in his wife’s place. Waverly, see if any of the remaining revenants we know about have any connection to birds. Jeremy, you’ll be testing the feathers to see if there’s anything on them that isn’t natural. Officer Haught’s going to be asking around the neighborhood, see if any of them noticed anything out of the ordinary last night.”

“And us?” Wynonna asks pointedly. Dolls sighs again.

“We’re going home right now to make sure Doc didn’t kill the sheriff.”

“Oh, goody.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doc is grumpy, and Wynonna finds a feather in his sock drawer.

Doc is waiting in the kitchen when they get home, looking angry as a wasp. He pushes himself up to his feet as they walk through the door, and storm-limps over to them, jabbing a finger at Dolls’ chest.

“You do _not_ get the sheriff to take me home like I’m some goddamn child!”

Wynonna rubs at her eyes. “Do we have to do this, Doc?”

Doc only turns on her, eyes flashing dangerously. “And _you_ ain’t any better, sittin’ in the bar, babysittin’ me all day from afar!”

“I wouldn’t have to if you’d just stay at home and rest like the doctor told you to!”

“I ain’t a cripple!”

“No one ever said you were,” Dolls says calmly, and this, this is why they really needed Dolls in the relationship. Despite being a dragon, he always was the one with a cool head. “We’re just worried about you, is all, Doc, so please calm down. We have a new case.”

Doc looks like he’s about to start yelling at them again, but at the words “new case” he stops, looking interested. “What’s the case?”

Dolls leads them into the living room, sitting on the couch and indicating Doc should sit next to him. Doc scowls for a moment but obeys.

“Woman disappeared last night--actually disappeared--and left a pile of feathers in her wake.”

Doc blinks, the remnants of his irritation fading. He coughs, asking, “Revenant?”

Dolls shakes his head. “Dunno yet. The rest of the team is on it.”

“What kind of feathers?” Doc asks, and there’s something off about the way he asks it. Wynonna frowns, but she’s interrupted by the pinging of Dolls’ phone. Dolls pull it out, frowning at the screen for a moment before showing it to Doc and then Wynonna.

“These kind.”

Wynonna glances at the phone screen, but she’s paying more attention to the way Doc’s face pales and he looks suddenly sick.

“Doc, you okay?” she asks. Doc looks up at her, almost guiltily, and shake his head dismissively.

“I’m fine. Just been a long day.”

Wynonna frowns at him for a moment longer. “When was the last time you ate something?”

Doc shrugs. “Dunno.”

“Right. I’m making soup.”

Dolls looks up at her with an eyebrow raised. “Really?”

Wynonna scowls at him. “It’s soup. How hard can it be?”

Really, Wynonna has no idea how hard it could be. She’s not the one who cooks usually since her repertoire consists of mostly cold cereal and slightly too-burnt toast. Dolls or Doc typically cook, but Doc’s food is usually a strange mix of “give you a heart attack” and mystery ingredients, whereas Dolls’ is filling but tasteless. (Usually they order food for dinner.) But she’s pretty sure they’ve got a couple cans of Campbell’s somewhere and that should be easy enough, right?

Wynonna heads to the kitchen, searching for those elusive Campbell’s cans, keeping ear open to what was happening in the living room. Doc was hiding something from them, had been since the accident, and she had no idea how it could be related to the case, but it seemed like it was. She hopes Dolls will push the subject a little, but she hears the TV turn on and sighs. How the History Channel was going to help weasel the truth out of Doc, she had no idea, but the two of them were obsessed. Maybe it’d help Doc relax a bit. That’d be good.

She finally finds the soup cans and pulls one out--there’s actually chicken noodle, perfect--and then sets to finding a pot. That’s much easier and she turns on the oven and starts to warm up the soup, feeling a little self-satisfied. There. Not too hard at all.

“You doing all right?” she hears Dolls say from the living room. Doc mutters something that Wynonna can’t understand.

“The doctor said massages can help relieve the tension.”

Some more mumbling from Doc and then some shuffling. Wynonna creeps to the kitchen entrance, curious if Doc is actually going to allow a fucking _massage_. Dolls has pulled Doc’s left leg up into his lap and is firmly massaging the muscles, and Wynonna sort of can’t believe her eyes. Of course, Doc looks properly grumpy about the situation, but then suddenly his face twists into this sort of constipated look. Dolls looks up at him.

“You okay? Need me to go softer?”

“‘S fine,” Doc mumbles. Dolls looks at him a second longer before going back to work. Doc’s face relaxes again into grumpiness, but slowly it starts to twist again, differently than before. After a few moments, Dolls looks up again, but he doesn’t say anything. When their eyes meet, Doc’s expression shuts down into grumpy once more, but Dolls’ shoulders shake like he’s chuckling. The following shuffling and movements Wynonna can’t quite make out, but then Dolls is leaning over Doc slowly, his head right over Doc’s crotch, and Doc is tensing in a very familiar way, and then it clicks.

Forgetting completely that she should be watching the soup, Wynonna settles against the wall to watch Dolls’ head bob up and down with slow, easy motion, Doc’s hand coming to clutch at his boyfriend’s shirt. He lets out a hiss and forces his eyes open, and they fall on Wynonna. Wynonna smiles a little awkwardly at him, and Doc’s tension slips away with a pleased smile just for a moment.

“Ah, careful,” he hisses, fingers curling into Dolls’ shirt. Dolls shakes with another chuckle, and Wynonna knows he just let his teeth run down Doc’s cock. Despite his protestations, Doc loves that. Bit of a pain slut, really. ...Not that Wynonna can talk.

Soon enough, Dolls pulls off and finishes Doc off with his hand, come splattering all over his face. Unable to hold herself back any longer, Wynonna hurries over to them and licks one long stripe up Dolls’ face, cleaning up him a bit. Dolls looks a little surprised by her presence, but he rolls with it easy enough, catching her mouth with his and sinking his tongue deep inside. Wynonna pulls away from the kiss and continues chasing the taste of Doc off Dolls’ face, reaching her hand out to Doc and clutching hard. Dolls huffs, amused.

“I was wondering what that smell was,” he says quietly. Wynonna blinks rapidly, pulling away and frowning at him in confusion until the smell hits her.

“Fuck,” she says, getting back to her feet. “The soup!”

* * *

It’s the next morning when Wynonna is desperately trying to find a hair tie that she finds the feather. It’s one of the downsides of living with two dudes instead of her sister anymore: she can never find a hair tie. She searches through the bathroom and then starts making her way through the bedroom, going through her stuff first and then making her way through Doc’s stuff to see if he stole any (sometimes he got weird about his hair) and had stashed them away somewhere. In Doc’s sock drawer--cliche, yeah--she comes to a sudden stop when her hand touches something sort of sharp. Hoping it’s not a knife, because why in the world would he keep a knife in his sock drawer, she carefully pulls the object out, a little baffled when she finds a feather between her fingers.

She stares at it for a moment, trying to figure out why Doc would be keeping a feather in his sock drawer, and then she recognizes it. It’s the same type of feather Nicole had sent Dolls pictures of last night. The same. exact. Type.

“What the hell are you doin’ in my things?”

Wynonna whirls at the angry sound of Doc’s voice, still holding the feather out in front of her. She feels guilty for a split second and then remembers what she just realized.

“What the hell are _you_ doing with this feather?” she asks. Doc storm-limps up to her from the doorway and snatches the feather out of her fingers, stuffing it back in the sock drawer and slamming the drawer closed.

“None of your damn business.”

“The hell it is!” Wynonna yells. “That’s the same type of feather left when Claire Hooper disappeared! Did you kidnap her or something?”

“What?” Doc says. “No! Jesus, Wynonna--”

“Then what the hell are you doing with that feather?”

“What’s going on here?” Dolls’ voice comes from the hallway, sounding probably rightfully concerned. Wynonna points frantically at Doc.

“He’s hiding a feather exactly like the feathers left in the Hoopers’ bed in his sock drawer!”

Dolls frowns and enters the bedroom. “Doc?”

Doc growls, backing up slightly like a caged animal. “It’s not what you think.”

“Then why don’t you explain to us what it is?” Dolls asks. “Because you’ve been acting strange ever since the accident, and we’re worried. There a connection?”

Doc’s eyes flick between the two of them anxiously before he slumps and digs the heels of his palms into his eyes. “I didn’t want to say anythin’ til I was sure.”

“Sure of what?” Dolls says calmly.

“The feathers. I seen ‘em before.” He looks at Wynonna, almost apologetic. “You said you saw me let go of the handlebars. I did. I saw this big black bird flying right at me, outta nowhere, and then it disappeared in a flurry of feathers right as I let go. But then you acted like you had no idea why I let go so you hadn’t seen the bird too, but when the doctors’ cleaned me up they found a couple feathers. And I seen this happen before, but it… I didn’t want to say anythin’ til I was sure.”

“You saw this before when?” Dolls asks. “Back in the day?”

Doc nods. “It’s an omen or a demon or something. There’s a bird that only the person affected sees, and then there’s feathers left in it’s wake. Bad shit happens--real bad shit.”

“Like what?” Wynonna asks. Doc looks between the two of them again and sighs.

“We should sit down. It’s a long story.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strange things happened in the months leading up to the Gunfight at the OK Corral.

Looking back on it now, in the months leading up to Wednesday, October 26th, 1881, it was pretty clear things were building up to something big. In fact, they’d been building up since the Earps came to Tombstone, but things picked up pace after one night when an epic thunderstorm hit town. Wyatt was at home and missed the whole thing, but Doc and his mistress, Big Nose Kate, were out, drinking and gambling as usual. When the thunderstorm hit, it hit with such a fury, drinks and games were left abandoned throughout the bar.

Doc and Kate stood in the doorway, watching the water flow through the streets like a stream when Doc saw it. A ball of light, crackling and snapping like lightning, jumping around behind the buildings.

“Kate,” he said quietly, a rumble of thunder forcing him to pause. “Lookit.”

The ball disappeared briefly, reappearing two buildings over and twice as large. Kate gasped and gripped Doc’s arm.

“Witchcraft,” she hissed.

Usually when Kate mentioned magics, Doc either ignored or humored her, but this time he was inclined to agree as he saw no other logical explanation. When the ball of light disappeared for the last time, it was with a loud crack and flash so bright everyone in the vicinity saw stars.

Wyatt didn’t believe Doc when he told him about the events. It didn’t help that Kate was there, rambling on about witches, and that no one else in town seemed to have seen it. Or admitted to seeing it, anyway. In an desperate attempt to change Wyatt’s mind, Doc took his friend over to the spot where the ball had last disappeared and found a collection of feathers gathered on the ground, like a bird had been killed--but without a body. Doc didn’t dare touch them, even when Wyatt did, for fear they might be cursed. Later, Doc realized he had seen a bird to match the feathers, sitting out in the downpour just before the ball had appeared. He convinced himself that bird had gotten caught in the light, and the light fried everything but the feathers. It made him feel more comfortable, especially with Wyatt not believing him still.

A few weeks later Doc and a stranger in town were playing a most intense game of poker. The stranger was hard to read, but Doc was even harder. When Doc finally showed his hand, the stranger looked up with a wicked smile but jumped slightly in his seat when he noticed the large black bird sitting on the lamp behind Doc. Quickly, the stranger looked around the bar to see if anyone else noticed the bird, and then looked down at the cards still sitting in his hand. Somehow, they were different than what he’d thought they were. He let out a yell of frustration and slammed them down on the table, storming out of the bar. Doc never could find an explanation for the feathers mingled with the stranger’s cards.

Throughout the town, little things (and sometimes not so little things) would happen. Sometimes people would describe the big, imposing black bird they saw in the strangest places--one woman saw it in her kitchen--but most people kept quiet. Most people didn’t want to be labeled unstable. One day all the milk turned to water. Everyone grumpily ignored it, but the milkman was secretly relieved the rotten milk he’d delivered that morning hadn’t hurt anyone, even though his wagon now had feathers strewn all over. Just outside of town, where the gang of Cowboys spent their time, one of them was riding back in and saw a bird fly straight at him. The horse spooked and threw him, racing away into the sunset. The Cowboy ended up with a broken arm and a small handful of feathers.

When Doc was accused of robbing that stagecoach, Kate had just been thrown out after a nasty, drunken fight. The county sheriff picked her up and kept handing her liquor. Kate simply went along with everything that was suggested and signed the affidavit swearing Doc had committed the crime, too distracted by the bird sitting on the desk that no one else seemed to have noticed.

Virgil Earp saw the bird one morning before arresting a Cowboy for illegal possession of a firearm within town limits. When the criminal’s friends came to bail him out, they left a trail of sleek, black feathers in their wake.

The night before the gunfight at the OK Corral, Ike Clanton had the wits scared out him when a black figure with wings flew right at him. He went out drinking to calm the nerves--which were already high due to the company he expected in the morning--and ended up bragging to the whole town that the Earps and Doc Holliday would be dead by the end of tomorrow. He and Doc would’ve killed each other that night had Morgan Earp not intervened.

The afternoon of the gunfight, only Doc and Frank and Tom McLaury saw the bird sitting on the roof nearby. The others would’ve seen it had they been looking, but focuses were centered elsewhere at the time. Only the county sheriff and the men who gathered the bodies saw the feathers--far too many for one bird--the bodies laid in instead of pools of blood. Though Doc was fairly certain he saw a feather stuck in the latch of one of the coffins paraded by the next morning.

The bird wasn’t seen again after October 26th, 1881. And things only got worse from there.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy and Waverly have some information about the mysterious bird. Doc has an idea to help them get answers.

“So it just disappeared? Nothing happened to chase it away or anything?” Doll asks as Doc finishes his story. Doc shakes his head.

“The only thing I can figure is the blood spilled that day was enough to finally appease the demon. Everywhere that bird went, pain followed. It’s actually what made me start to believe in the supernatural. But Wyatt never saw the bird so he didn’t believe me.”

“But we don’t know that the bird is the demon,” Dolls points out. “It could just be an omen.”

“Then what’s the demon?” Wynonna asks. Dolls nods grimly.

“That’s the question, isn’t it? Any idea what kind of bird it is?” he asks Doc. “That might give us some idea of what we’re dealing with here.”

“It was big and black,” Doc says with a shrug. “Never got a clear look at it.”

“Could be a magpie. Or a raven or crow. All of those options have magical properties. How big was it?” Dolls asks.

“Well, it wasn’t freakishly big if that’s what you’re asking,” Doc says. “But it was definitely a bigger bird than average.”

“I bet they’ll be able to tell us more at the station,” Wynonna says. “We should fill them in anyway.”

* * *

“It’s a raven,” Jeremy says almost the exact moment they walk in.

“Which does  _ not _ narrow it down at all,” Waverly adds from where she’s drowning herself in books, Nicole perched on the desk behind her. “Ravens are used in myth, legend, and folklore all the time, from native religions to Edgar Allan fucking Poe.”

“But they’re bearers of bad luck, aren’t they?” Wynonna says, sitting down and grabbing a donut from the box sitting out. “So it’s an omen then.”

“Not necessarily,” Waverly says quickly. “The idea ravens mean death is something people mostly get from Poe and because they’re carrion birds. Depending on the culture, sometimes they mean good luck, like the Greeks, or something else entirely. Protection, a simple messenger, a trickster, fertility, or in some native cultures the raven is actually the creator of the world.”

“Well, ours isn’t good luck, that’s for damn sure,” Doc grumbles, rubbing at his leg and sitting down with difficulty. Wynonna kicks a chair at him.

“Sit down, dumbass.”

Doc looks like he’s about to argue for a minute but thinks better of it. Wynonna doesn’t miss the sigh of relief as Doc’s leg suddenly isn’t carrying any weight.

“True,” Waverly agreed. “But there are still too many legends to pick from.”

“Anything from the neighbors?” Dolls asks Nicole.

“Not yet. I still have a couple interviews to conduct, but no one so far noticed anything strange the night of the disappearance.”

“That they’ll admit to,” Doc interjects. Nicole frowns at him, and then at Wynonna and Dolls.

“Are we missing something?”

“This has happened before,” Dolls says with a suppressed sigh. Nicole, Waverly, and Jeremy all look up in surprise.

“When?” Waverly asks.

“Back in my day,” Doc responds, looking irritated.

“Your day?” Jeremy says excitedly. “Like back with Wyatt and everything?”

Doc tries not to roll his eyes, and Wynonna holds back a grin. Jeremy always gets excited whenever “back in the day” comes up. He’s a bit of a nerd like that.

“Yes. Wyatt never saw it, though.”

“But you did?” Nicole asks, intrigued.

“I saw the bird twice. Saw the feathers a couple times. Always accompanied something bad.”

“So what’s our next move?” Nicole says, looking to Dolls.

“We need to figure out what this raven is, what is means. Whether it’s an omen or the demon itself. If it’s just an omen, what’s the demon? Meaning, I need you to keep digging, Waves. And Nicole, if the neighbors have  _ anything _ that might point us in the right direction...”

“There’s something else we could do,” Doc says, fiddling with the brim of his hat which is now sitting in his lap.

“And what’s that?” Dolls asks.

“You notice some particular characters we haven’t seen yet that everyone knows Wyatt killed?” Doc says, looking up with a strange look on his face.

“All of the Cowboys,” Waverly says suddenly, voice reverent.

“The cowboys?” Wynonna echoes. “I’ve smoked plenty of cowboys. Pretty much all the revenants are cowboys.”

Waves shakes her head quickly, standing up and walking over to them. “The term ‘cowboy’ meant something different back then, didn’t it, Doc?”

Doc nods. “The Cowboys were a gang. They were the law in Tombstone before the Earps showed up and started makin’ trouble for them.”

“Like the mafia,” Waverly says. Doc nods again.

“Like the Corleones.”

Wynonna snorts. “That why you like those movies so much?”

Doc glares at her. “Marlon Brando and Al Pacino give moving performances.”

“Anyway,” Dolls interrupts. “What’s your point, Doc?”

“My point is there are still Cowboys out there who haven’t met Peacemaker yet. We haven’t seen hide nor tail of ‘em, but they’ve gotta be out there somewhere. They were there, right in the center of all of it the last time the raven was around. Considering how many sightings there were, a few of them had to’ve seen it. Maybe they may know something more.”

“But how do we find them?” Wynonna asks. “We haven’t seen a revenant in weeks. They’re skittish now that there’s only a few left of them.”

“I’d suggest starting with the trailer park,” Doc says. “The Cowboys love that type of environment. It’s where they thrive.”

“Is there someone specific you’re hoping to find?” Dolls asks.

“If we could manage to find Curly Bill then he could lead us to the rest of them.”

“Curly Bill?” Jeremy echoes. “Can I come?”

“No,” Dolls says firmly. “Doc, you think you can get him to talk?”

“You’re gonna let me out in the field?” Doc asks, looking surprised.

“You’re the only one who knows who we’re looking for--”

“Hey!” Waverly says indignantly.

“--other than Waverly,” Dolls amends. “And Waverly has a different assignment,” he says pointedly. Waverly’s mouth twists unhappily and she slumps back in her chair.

“You sure going to see these ‘Cowboys’ is a good idea for Doc right now?” Wynonna asks. The accident was just the other day, and if these Cowboys got rough with Wyatt Earp’s best friend...

“We’ll be close by if anything goes wrong,” Dolls says. “And we’re wiring you up, Doc. We need to have ears on everything that happens.”

“Fine by me,” Doc says. “Shall we do this?” He stands with some difficulty and looks at Dolls expectantly. Dolls nods and gestures for Doc to follow him to the office. Wynonna follows the two of them quickly.

“You sure you can do this?” she asks Doc, sitting on Dolls’ desk. Doc glowers at her, unbuttoning his vest and shirt.

“I’m fine, Wynonna. And I’d appreciate it if you stopped acting like I was some glass doll.”

“It’s just--this could take a while, right? And we’re not even sure they’re in the trailer park in the first place,” she says as Dolls starts to tape the mic to Doc. “You shouldn’t be walking around that much.”

“He’ll take breaks,” Dolls says. Doc looks at Dolls with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, I will, will I?”

“Understand, the only reason I’m letting you out in the field right now at all is because we don’t have another option. Wynonna and I can’t be knocking down every door to find these people. So you’re going to take it easy and let us know if you need to call it a day, all right?”

Doc scowls. “Fine.”

Dolls finishes with the mic and pats Doc’s chest lightly. “Button back up. We’ll make sure the mic is working, then drive over to the trailer park.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doc's visit to the trailer park is seemingly for naught, and the raven strikes again.

Wynonna and Dolls drop Doc off at the entrance to the trailer park and then drive around to hide out to the side. Dolls pulls out a laptop and opens it, and Wynonna settles in.

“We’re patched into the security cameras in the park so we’ll be able to see everything as well,” Dolls says, and Wynonna leans in to take a look. There was Doc, limping along, making his way for one of the trailer homes. He knocks on the door and waits for a minute before knocking again. When still no one answers, Doc opens the door and steps inside for a moment.

“Huh,” his voice comes over the receiver Dolls has sitting on the dashboard. Doc reappears at the doorway and walks back out, continuing deeper into the park.

This continues for almost two hours, Doc entering trailer homes only to find them empty. He also runs across a few humans and asks about a Curly Bill, but no one seems to know who he’s talking about. Doc’s limp is getting worse and Wynonna is about ready to call it a day when a man and a woman sitting out in front of their trailer home come into view.

“Hey you! You’re Doc Holliday, ain’t ya?” the man calls. The voice is quiet over the receiver, but there’s something in the tone that makes Wynonna uncomfortable.

“Do I know you, good sir?” Doc asks, approaching slowly.

“You lived here in the park for a while, pretending to be friends of the revenants.” The man spits and stands so he’s level with Doc.

“Til you betrayed Bobo and shacked up with the heir,” the woman says, hicktown accent thick. Doc smiles, his smooth and self-assured smile.

“Now, surely, you must realize Bobo was usin’ you all…”

“We volunteered!” the woman argues. “We knew what we was gettin’ in to.”

“You’re the reason Bobo’s dead,” the man says. “And the Seven! And all the others that came after. It’s your fault.”

Doc starts to look a little wary, taking a step back from the couple. “I did not pull the trigger on any of them--”

“But you allowed the heir to!”

Doc bristles. “The ‘heir’ is free to do as she wishes--”

“It’s your fault!” the man bellows and throws out a vicious kick to Doc’s left knee.

A loud cry bursts through the receiver, and Doc tumbles, face twisted in agony. “Son of a--” Doc curses. Wynonna looks up at Dolls and pulls out Peacemaker. She gets out of the SUV fast and walks over to the fence.

“Where is he?” she says, trying to peer through the fence and find Doc. Dolls follows her quickly, the receiver for the mic in his hand. Something moves in the corner of Wynonna’s eye and she looks up at the fence to see a large black bird sitting, pretty as you please, watching her closely.

“Dolls,” Wynonna says quietly. Dolls looks up to her, and then follows her gaze.

“Shit.”

There’s a loud crack over the mic and then nothing but static. Dolls shoves the receiver in his pocket with a growl and walks over to Wynonna.

“We’re getting him out of there. Now.” He clasps his hands together for Wynonna to step in and helps her over the fence, climbing over it himself after her.

There’s another crack, like the sound of a gunshot, and Wynonna and Dolls race towards it. They find Doc sitting against a trailer, gun in his hand, peering back at where the man’s now got a shotgun pointed their direction. Doc looks up as soon as Wynonna and Dolls hurry to him, a look of pained relief blossoming over his face. His left leg is still as possible, Doc wincing at the slightest movement.

“I can’t walk,” he admits grimly.

“We’re gonna get you to the hospital,” Dolls says reassuringly, going to one side and pulling Doc’s arm over his shoulders. Wynonna does the same on the other side, and the three of them scurry out of there as quick as they can.

* * *

The doctor who sees Doc at the hospital happens to be the same one who saw him last time, and he looks very disappointed in Wynonna and Dolls.

“I’m putting him on bedrest for the next week,” he tells them sternly. “I’ll assess where he’s at at that point.”

“Can he come home at least?” Wynonna asks. The doctor nods.

“Get him comfortable. Have him watch some Netflix. He’s only allowed out of bed to go to the bathroom, understand?”

“We understand, Doctor,” Dolls says politely. “Thank you.”

“You can see him now,” the doctor says and walks away. Wynonna and Dolls exchange a look and then walk in.

“He’s putting me on bedrest, isn’t he?” Doc says stoically. Wynonna sits in the edge of his bed and grabs his hand. Doc meets her gaze and smiles tightly, and Wynonna’s heart aches.

“You’ll be back on your feet in no time,” she tries to reassure him, but it doesn’t seem to work.

“I fucked it up,” Doc says.

“What in the world do you mean?” Dolls asks. Doc shrugs with one shoulder.

“The mission. I fucked it up and now I can’t help at all for at least a week.”

Dolls shakes his head and grasps Doc’s shoulder tightly. “We have other avenues to explore. The mission is fine. What’s more important is your health.”

“More important than catching this demon?” Doc says sardonically.

“For now, yes,” Dolls says. Doc looks like he still wants to argue but doesn’t say anything. Wynonna looks between them and sighs. She sure could pick ‘em.

* * *

It’s a few days later at the station, Doc glaringly absent from the group, when Wynonna notices something weird. Waverly and Jeremy are buried in research, and Dolls is doing… something, so Wynonna is stuck waiting, playing a stupid game on her phone. After failing to beat her high score yet again, Wynonna takes a look at the time on her phone. 3:51 it says. But that couldn’t be right. She’d just come back from taking Doc some lunch, hadn’t she? She looks over to the clock on the wall. That one says says twenty minutes after nine. That didn’t make sense either.

“Hey, Waves?” she calls. “What’s the time on your phone say?”

Waverly looks confused at the question but pulls out her phone anyway to check. “Uh… Seven thirty-three. Wait, that’s not right.”

“Jeremy?” Wynonna says. Jeremy pulls out his phone.

“One forty-seven.”

“Dolls!” Wynonna calls. After a moment, Dolls appears in the doorway of his office.

“What is it?”

“What time does your phone say?”

Dolls frowns. “Why don’t you look at your own phone?” he asks, slowly pulling out his phone from his back pocket.

Wynonna gestures around. “All our phones and the clock on the wall say different times. What does yours say?”

“Eleven twelve. Wait, that can’t be right…”

Wynonna nods and hurries out the door and out of the station. She can see the clock tower from here, proudly reading five oh-eight. Dolls, Waves, and Jeremy are right behind her.

“What’s going on?” Jeremy asks.

Something moves on the corner of the clock tower, and then suddenly it’s in the air, flying off into the distance.

“The raven’s fucked with all our clocks,” Wynonna says. “I’ll bet you there are feathers by the clock tower.”

“What purpose could that possibly serve?” Waverly asks.

“Chaos,” Dolls answers. “Pure and simple chaos.”


End file.
